I tend to have a bunch of apps open when I have my surface docked - Word, Excel, explorer, outlook, skype, etc. Occasionally I want to take the surface to a meeting, so I undock it. When I dock it again I have to manually move each window back to the external monitors. The Surface sits there with the keyboard covering the screen, closed, in the dock.

Even the next day, after a reboot, any apps that were open on the surface screen open there, so I have to fold down the keyboard and drag it back to the main monitor.

Is there any way to move all new and active Windows to the main screen when the computer's put in the dock, or apps started while it's docked?

If you're not actually using the Surface display while docked, just set the external monitor as the only monitor. When you're docked everything will appear on the external monitor, and when you un-dock everything will display on the Surface.

I tried that out. When I plugged my surface back into the dock it moved all the apps to my secondary vertical monitor, instead of my primary horizontal monitor. Why would it decide to put them over there!

Damn Windows. Surfaces suck with external monitors. Windows is fairly poor at managing the Windows when things dock and undock.

Not sure what's going on there. Pretty sure I always had monitors reconnect correctly when docking. Using the Surface Dock at the moment, but have also used a Kensington unit. Currently only running with one monitor connected. The only issue I continue to have is that if I undock or redock, nothing resizes properly, and everything looks ugly.

I try to shut down before docking/undocking to limit issues, but even that's no guarantee.

I also have a Toshiba Dynadock as well. The Surface 3 Dock only seems to have one DisplayPort port so I need it to connect to two monitors. I don't want to have another plug into the side of the surface to disconnect every time I move it.

I haven't used it in a number of years, as I no longer run multiple monitors, but Ultramon was something I used to help manage multiple monitors and application position defaults. No idea if it will handle the situation of docking and undocking with the surface and maintaining application positions etc, but might be worth a try. It does add a number of quick ways to move and position windows at the least.

timmmay: ... Disabling the surface display when docked has helped a bit, and moving windows from a second monitor is easier that from the surface.

For others who try this trick at home, remember to first set your power options to no go to sleep when closing the lid while plugged in to power.

Stu: Not sure what's going on there. Pretty sure I always had monitors reconnect correctly when docking. ... Currently only running with one monitor connected. The only issue I continue to have is that if I undock or redock, nothing resizes properly, and everything looks ugly.

I try to shut down before docking/undocking to limit issues, but even that's no guarantee.

I've seen all of these issues in the last six months working with Surface tablets. I've even had it happen that Windows detects the correct number of monitors, but if you try to identify them with the big white 1,2 and 3, it differs from the display under the monitor settings, yet the layout itself is actually correct. As always, make sure the latest firmware is also applied.

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